He woke up to the sound of water, the sun rays peeking in through the grey curtains made him squint his eyes as soon as he had opened them. He turned to his side and kept his pillow over his head as the flashes from last night came back to him, he realized the reason behind the running water was his wife.
"Open the door." He demanded.
"What?" Her voice came from a distance, under the water.
Constant knock.
"What is it?" She peeked through the opening.
"I need to shower."
A gasp. "You are nak-"
"So are you." He smirked.
"I'm in the bathroom."
"Its getting cold, ishita." He tried to push open the door when she merely closed her eyes. He leaned in closer to her and whispered, "its nothing you haven't seen before."
An hour and a half later, she took the green towel from the counter and wrapped it around herself while he turned down the tap. She took the other one to wrap her hair, "Too bad, there is only one pair of towel." She smirked.
"No problem." He took the one away from hair and tied around his waist.
"Raman!"
He lifted her in his arms as she moved the lock of hair away from her face.
"Give me a kiss."
"No." She held his shoulder for support and shook her head.
"You might want to reconsider."
"No."
"Sure?"
"Positive." She nodded and in the next moment found herself being dropped on the bed. "Ouch!"
He shrugged.
"My back!"
"Don't pull this one. You have had worst injuries before besides its not even an injury, its hardly a foot drop." He took put his clothes from the suitcase and changed when she continued to lie down while she complained, "not when you deflowered me last night."
"Oh shit! I'm sorry." He was beside her the next moment, stroking her back. "I'm sorry. Is it really bad?"
"Do you guys ever plan yo grace us with your presence over breakfast?" The both heard mihika across the door.
This is so not over, Ishita thought as she got ready to leave.
He stood there by the console mirror in the living room, appearing busy in his cell phone but his eyes kept darting to the woman sitting on the chair feeding her daughter. The relatives had stayed over last night after the party, some of them passed by him with a glance, some with an acknowledging nod, a smile. She seemed surreal. The smile on her face had always made his heart skip a beat. The pout, made his face break into a smile. The gleam in her eyes made them special all the more, the love lurking in her eyes which now belonged to some one else. It was when he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder, he decided to accompany the rest on the dining table when Bala suggested, "let's have food."
Raman picked his daughter and made her sit on his lap after kissing her forehead.
"Papa! I missed you."
"I missed you too, sugar." He fixed her side bangs while she chewed her paratha. "Did you take care of mama?"
"Ask her." Oh, his daughter was definitely taking after her mother.
"Better than her father." Came from the person in question.
Had she really moved on? He walked up to the dining table and since all the chairs were occupied he waited in cue to get the food. It was when he heard a giggle he looked down only to find the same woman dodging her husband's hand under the table while her little one was happy to skip her meal. It was Raman who caught him staring at his wife and Subramaniyam leapt forward to ruffle Ruhi's hair and tried covering up by saying, "she is a lucky one."
"I'm the lucky one." Raman remarked when he kissed Ruhi's cheek and cleaned coffee froth off ishita's upper lip with his thumb, looking into his wife's eye and said, "both my girls are precious."
"What will you have subbu?" Vanditta asked as she served her brother in law.
He stood there. Quiet for a brief moment. It took him a while to register the meaning of Raman's words. He shook his head instead and said, "I'll just take an apple."
Subramaniyum was trying to act indifferent to ishita's presence around the house since the last few days but seeing her around husband, laughing away, being happy didn't suit well to his idea of being around his ex. Weren't two years enough to forget her? Had she come back only to ruin his so called perfect family life? Why did she make him feel uneasy? Being married to a docile girl, a father to a healthy child didn't satisfy him, he gathered now. He realized he was content but not happy. Happiness is what reflected on ishita's husband's face. The gleam in his eyes reflected that of ishita's.
As Ruhi ran around the house after finishing her meal, her parents walk back to their room hand in hand. The blush never left her face and the peace lurked in his eyes. He whispered something to her which earned him a swat but he pulled her along and chatted away.
He kissed her as soon as he closed the door behind them. "I can't wait to back home."
"I'll miss you." She said, linking her hands behind his neck.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm staying behind."
"No, you are not."
"The baby is only two months away and I wouldn't miss being around my sister when the time comes."
"Two month?"
"Yes."
"No!"
"One month."
"We leave tonight."
"Two weeks." She bargained.
"One day."
"One week."
"Two days."
"Okay." She congratulated herself for getting him to agree her terms without even saying it. The truth was she couldn't stay away from him either but as they say getting even was just as essential. When she felt his hands tug at her blouse, it took all her strength to say, "I can't." She continued to explain whem he looked at her in bewilderment, "you dropped me remember?"
"Does it still hurt?" He rubbed her back. "Let's visit a doc."
"I am one myself too."
"Are you sure, its not that bad?"
She wasn't sure if she would be able to pull this up but it was late to back out now once the words were out. It didn't ache because of the drop but because of her adamant nature.
P. S do tell me if it was a bad idea to extend it!
CID
Anupamaa
4